Media processing devices, such as laser printers and media sorters, among others, may operate on various types of media, such as various papers or plastics. Printable papers might include wood- and cotton-based materials of different qualities, of virgin and/or recycled content, formed in different thicknesses and with different surface treatments. Printable plastics may include similar variations, in both transparent and opaque forms.
The quality of text and images printed on such media may be dependent on a number of factors. In laser printers, one factor that may affect media processing is “media weight.” In this context, “media weight” of a sheet may be defined as mass per unit area where such mass generally is relatively small.
In order to account for varying media weight in media processing devices, it may be desirable to modify operation of such devices to account for media weight, such as modifying the speed at which the media proceeds through a fuser in a laser printer. One approach to determining media weight is to sense media thickness and to determine media weight based on that thickness. However, such an approach may not account for density of the media. Additionally, such thickness sensors may be fragile, expensive and subject to wear, as they may be in contact with the media as it is fed by, to, or within a media processing device. Another approach is to more directly determine media mass. It is in this context that we describe the present scale.